If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Source- Google facts

Cadbury and Lifebuoy have both popped up in the news recently for taking a slightly different approach to consumer insights and the improvement of the consumer experience in India.

Cadbury’s latest approach to consumers has been to scrutinise the in-store experience as a channel gaining consumer closeness and insight. Warc reports that Cadbury is reacting to the colossal shifts in the Indian retail landscape, which sees incomes rising and small independent outlets being challenged and driven out by larger supermarkets, hypermarkets and malls. Cadbury has been equipping staff with new tablets which will help them collect data such as order history, allowing the company to best map out its activities across the country’s 800 000 outlets. Staff will also take on new responsibilities ranging from developing more appealing displays to tracking customer habits and looking out for trends.  Using a mixture of insights and improvements to create a value-added shopping experience, Cadbury aims to entice the increasingly affluent segment of India’s consumers.

Lifebuoy’s recent marketing tactic has been very different. Casting an eye away from stores and either traditional or modern retail experiences, the latest Lifebuoy campaign has looked to an out-of-store channel based on routine and religion – but equally fed by a process of insight and improvement. Lifebuoy soap’s ‘Roti Reminder’ campaign targeted the 2-8million Hindu pilgrims who travelled to the Ganges at Allahabad for the 2013 Kumbh Mela festival. Due to the sudden influx of pilgrims, the city which hosts the festival once every three years can become unable to support hygiene and sanitation, and diseases can spread. Lifebuoy saw an opportunity to remind consumers to keep hygienic through their food, distributing heat stamps which asked ‘Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy?’ to be printed onto 2.5 million flatbread rotis across Allahabad. As rotis are served with almost every meal, and often eaten by hand, the brand managed to serve what General Manager Sudhir Sitapati called ‘a unique intervention’, tackling health issues whilst usefully reminding consumers of a particular soap. The insight that it was before eating that most people forget to wash their hands, and that a sudden increase in population density can greatly increase
infection rates, was responsible for Lifebuoy’s campaign, which was generally well received.

One short and one long term, one structural and one based on communications, it is interesting to follow the progress of the companies relying on small insights to make a big difference in a growing consumer market.

Since the horsemeat scandal has consumed all media channels, it is perhaps unsurprising that consumer attention has been drawn towards meat free products. Gone are the days where meat free was just for veggies – meat eaters buy them too!

Indeed, I am one of those meat eaters. Quorn mince has long since been a staple in my household, and so when the brand started bringing out new chilled products, I was somewhat relieved that Quorn had realised their potential and expanded, rather than faded away behind the pies. Their newer products include chilled pasta sauces and of course, Lunch Pots.

A brand which may come to mind just as quickly as Quorn in this market is Linda McCartney. Up until recently, the brand only produced frozen foods, but they have now introduced a chilled range, which includes products like ‘Chilli Non Carne’ and ‘Vegsaus Spanish Stew’. Not only has Linda McCartney expanded their product range, they have also created a stronger brand position; with a range which goes past burgers and sausages, Linda McCartney are positioning themselves for a variety meal occasions, such as Sunday roast. Outside of the products themselves, Paul McCartney has founded Meat Free Mondays – an initiative asking us to do “our bit to help the planet”. Hence, Linda McCartney is helping pull the meat free category out of the meat substitute territory, and into good quality meals, which just happen to not contain meat.

When we look at the bigger picture, it looks even more positive.  The meat free and free from market combined grew 39% between 2007 and 2012 and continues to grow. Meat-free sales in the UK were expected to reach £607m by the end of 2012, with ready meals making up a third of these (estimated value of £214m). However, there are still hurdles to jump over: 42% of the British population say they don’t like the taste of meat substitutes, whilst 36% think they taste bland.

Therefore, even though the current increase in purchasing of meat free products (specifically burgers, as reported by Holland & Barrett) might be a phase, the rise of the meat free market is not. It is proving itself not only as a provider of a wider range of food for vegetarians, but it is also giving meat eaters viable and interesting alternatives to their carnivorous diets. So, I ask you this: How can meat free brands like these build on their existing market growth in the wake of this scandal? Where there’s a will, there’s always a neigh.

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“There are three kinds of company:
those who MAKE things happen;
those who WATCH things happen;
and those who WONDER what’s happened”.

Valentine’s Day is a bit of a Marmite occasion. Some (lucky) people enjoy guessing the writers of their mystery cards, and adore the all-pervasive hearts, flowers and cupids. Others hold bad feelings towards the commercialisation of the festival and see the mass celebration of love as merely something shoehorned into darkest February to keep us all going until Easter.

One thing that we can all agree on is that there are set rules for this weird day, and, in branding language, two clear consumer segments. Singles have girly film nights and tear–fests or go on weird first dates, whilst couples smother one another with roses, cards, jewellery and large restaurant bills.

But what about the third consumer segment – families? This year, as Valentine’s Day falls on a Thursday – a school night – a few brands are taking the initiative to offer family-friendly alternatives. Some even have science behind them, as Papa Murphy’s, the US pizza chain conducted a survey recently which revealed that 90% of women would happily spend Valentine’s Day at home with the kids, prompting the heart-shaped HeartBaker pizza aimed at families.

The idea of family time rather than couple time is a new and interesting segmentation for Valentine’s Day. It taps into trends of saving money by staying at home as well as the new consumer desire to have meaningful experiences with the whole family involved. Amongst my attached friends there are quite a few who are doing family meals rather than coupling off, or shunning swanky French cuisine in favour of cheap pizza and lager. But family offerings on Valentine’s Day aren’t as widespread amongst brands this year as they might be.

I wonder if these trends will increasingly manifest themselves in the future, and Valentine’s Day might become an occasion which everyone can enjoy!